If you’re at all plugged into the #kidlit world, I’m sure by now you’ve heard someone lament about the state of shrinking word counts. They’ll blame shorter attention spans, the effect of two working parents, the eternal onslaught of ‘devices’ or simply lack of time. Is it true that in our fast paced, internet saturated lives, we can’t stop and read our kids books with more that 500 words?I thought it would be fun to dig into some numbers and compare some classic picture book word counts with some contemporary ones.Lets compare:

As you can see the 500 word rule isn’t really strict (those Skippyjon books are freaking long!). Personally, my 2 yr old son loves reading longer stories with a lot of wordplay. We unearthed a treasure trove of older books that belonged to my wife and he would rather read some of the older, longer, stuff. But that's just us. What do you think? What do your kids prefer to read? Do you wish contemporary books were longer? Shorter?-Jorge

My two-year-old is also really into longer books, as the longer books often mean a later bedtime or more one-on-one attention time. I like them, too. Those are precious minutes where I don't need to rescue her from climbing onto our kitchen table or sitting on her infant brother. Those are minutes where everyone is getting along, and it's silent (except for the reading).

I am a firm believer that words are as important as the illustrations in picture books. While there is a certain beauty to a well-crafted wordless book, I think children's brains really light up when there is meaningful interplay between words and pictures. As for *more* words--yes! --assuming they are "artful" and carefully chosen. --ERS

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Meet the Friday Blogonauts

First Fridayswill feature Bryan Patrick Avery, published writer , man of mystery, and professional magician among other things.

Fourth Fridayswill feature the great Christine Taylor-Butler who has published over 70 award-winning fiction and non-fiction and nonfiction books including the acclaimed new middle grade series - The Lost Tribes.